Anthony Charles Smibert (born 1949 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

) is an artist and aikido teacher. He has exhibited artworks and published research internationally, much of the latter on the methods of 19th-century

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

ist

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...

. He is the president of Aiki Kai Australia and a member of the senior council of the

International Aikido Federation International Aikido Federation (International Aikido Federation) is a world governing body for the sport of Aikido. Structure The International Aikido Federation was formed in 1976 to serve as a primary global aikido organisation. It is an umbre ...

. In the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 2016, Smibert was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AM) "for significant service to aikido through a range of roles, and to the visual arts as a painter and water colourist". His home, studio and gallery are in Deloraine, Tasmania.

Art

Smibert's art reflects three diverse streams of thought: Japanese minimalism, the early 19th century

English School of Painting English art is the body of visual arts made in England. England has Europe's earliest and northernmost ice-age cave art. Prehistoric art in England largely corresponds with art made elsewhere in contemporary Britain, but early medieval Anglo-Sa ...

and

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

. He has been recognised as one of Australia's leading watercolourists. His 1993 collaboration with Japanese couturier Yasuhiro Chiji led to a signature range of high fashion,

yūzen is a Japanese resist dyeing technique where dyes are applied inside outlines of dyed or undyed rice-paste resist, which may be drawn freehand or stencilled; the paste keeps the dye areas separated. Originating in the 17th century, the technique ...

kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimono ...

based on Smibert's watercolours. Some works (for example his Yosemite Valley watercolours and acrylics) are clearly inspired by the study of

Turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for turni ...

Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich (5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscape ...

and the early 19th century philosophy known as the

Sublime Sublime may refer to: Entertainment * SuBLime, a comic imprint of Viz Media for BL manga * Sublime (band), an American ska punk band ** ''Sublime'' (album), 1996 * ''Sublime'' (film), a 2007 horror film * SubLime FM, a Dutch radio station dedic ...

. For Australian landscapes Smibert sometimes uses local iron ore as pigment. Smibert's art is deeply informed by his study in aikido. His larger acrylic abstracts use the energy flow ( 'ki') of aikido to create a broad calligraphy reminiscent of Franz Kline and Action Painting. Smibert's career includes exhibitions in Europe, South East Asia, Japan, the Americas and Australia. Examples of Smibert's Turner-influenced, minimalist and abstract painting styles, respectively, are shown below:

Aikido

Smibert commenced judo in his early teens and then aikido in 1964 at age 15. He became a student of aikido master

Seiichi Sugano Seiichi Sugano (菅野誠一 17 December 1939 – 29 August 2010) was a Japanese Aikido teacher who lived and taught in many Western countries. He held the rank of an 8th dan Aikikai. Life Sugano was born in Otaru, Hokkaido. Sugano’s family ...

in 1965 and remained his student until Sugano's death in 2010. Smibert assisted Sugano to establish in Aikido in Victoria then worked closely with other senior students to establish Aiki Kai Australia and the Aikido Foundation. Smibert was Vice-President of Aiki Kai Australia from 1976 until 2010. On the death of Sugano he was elected president. Smibert is a trustee of the Aikido Foundation, established to promote the aikido legacy of Sugano, along with senior Australian instructors Robert Botterill (7th

dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

) and Hanan Janiv (7th dan). Tony Smibert represented Australia at the International Aikido Federation (IAF) from 1980 to 1984. He was then elected IAF vice-chairman, a position he then held from 1984 to 2008. In 2008 he was appointed by the current Aikido Doshu

Moriteru Ueshiba is a Japanese master of aikido. He is a grandson of Morihei Ueshiba, founder of aikido, and son of Kisshomaru Ueshiba. Ueshiba is the third and current ''Doshu'' (hereditary head) of the Aikikai. Biography Ueshiba was born on April 2, 1951, in ...

to membership of the Senior Council of the IAF. Smibert currently holds the rank of 7th dan

Aikikai The Aikikai is the original school of Aikido. It is centered on the Aikikai#Aikikai Foundation, Aikikai Foundation in Japan, and its figurehead is the Aikikai#Doshu, Doshu (the family heir of the founder of Aikido). It is represented globally thr ...

and the teaching title of shihan from Aikido World Headquarters in Japan. He regularly teaches in Australia and Continental Europe and has also taught in Japan, South East Asia, the USA, Russia and the United Kingdom.

Education and publishing

Smibert's publications include ''The Watercolour Apprentice'', ''The Inner Art of Watercolour'', ''The Watercolour Road'', and other series for Australian Artist and International Artist magazines; and occasional articles for Craft Arts International and Australian Art Review magazines. In the early 1990s he published a series of video lessons based on seminars at Mountford Granary Art School in Tasmania followed by an illustrated manual, ''Painting Landscapes from Your Imagination''. Smibert contributed to the Tate publication ''How to Paint like Turner'' and co-authored the ''Tate Watercolour Manual: Lessons from the Great Masters'' with Tate Senior Conservation Scientist Dr Joyce Townsend.

Research

Concurrent with his own painting, Smibert is a Visiting Artist Researcher at

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

. His interest in the 19th century British painter

has taken him to London many times to work directly from Turner's sketchbooks and paintings. Smibert's collaboration with Dr Joyce Townsend has included using watercolour pigments from Turner's studio to recreate the methods of Turner and building an extensive collection of historic artist materials and watercolour boxes from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Smibert's research includes visiting precise locations where Turner had worked around Britain and Europe and comparing them to the artist's original drawings and colour studies towards a practical understanding of Turner's creative processes. Smibert has demonstrated Turner's techniques on BBCTV's ''Fake or Fortune'' programme and delivered master classes and workshops for curators and artists at art museums including the Tate, the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

and

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

. In 2013 he and pianist

Ambre Hammond Ambre Hammond (born in Cairns) is an Australian classical pianist and composer. Life Hammond has been taught by her mother, Carolyn Hammond, since the age of three. In 1989, Hammond achieved a world record when she was awarded her AMEB Associat ...

created a public performance '' Turner and the Sublime'' to bring Turner and this research to life for audiences at the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of South Australia as part of the ''Turner at the Tate: The Making of a Master'' exhibition.

Gallery

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References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smibert, Tony 1949 births Living people Australian landscape painters Australian watercolourists Australian aikidoka Members of the Order of Australia